50 years ago in railroad history … A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter The U.S. Supreme Court on March 2 upholds a lower court’s ruling not to interfere in the discontinuance of New York Central’s Weehawken-Cortland Street Hudson River ferries, paving the way for their last runs on March 24; […]
Name: Jones Island Scale: 1:24 and 1:29 proportion Size: 28 x 28 feet Prototype: freelanced Locale: Jones Island and the south side of Milwaukee, Wis. Era: 1950s Style: walk-in Mainline run: 125 feet Minimum radius: 30″ (main line); 24″ (streetcar track) Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the April 2009 issue […]
Name: New Haven’s Derby Junction Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 15′-6″ x 19′-6″ Prototype: New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Locale: Shelton/Derby, Conn., and Maybrook, N.Y. Era: late 1940s to mid-1950s Style: walk-in Mainline run: 80 feet Minimum radius: 32¼” (main), 24″ (sidings) Minimum turnout: no. 5 (main), no. 4 (sidings) Maximum grade: 1.5 percent […]
Name: Whasup Dock Co. Scale: HO scale (1:87.1) Size: 4′-3″ x 6′-8″ Theme: freelanced Locale: Northeast Era: Summer 1956 Style: Shelf Mainline run: 8 feet Minimum radius: 18″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: 3 percent Originally appeared in the March 2009 issue of Model Railroader. Click here to download a PDF of this track […]
Name: White River Division Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 11′-6″ x 13′-6″ Prototype: Boston & Maine and Central Vermont Theme: New England main line Locale: White River Junction, Vt. Era: fall 1950s Style: around the walls Mainline run: 34 feet Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: level Originally appeared in the March 2009 […]
50 years ago in railroad history … A supplement to the Classic Trains Online Look Back e-mail newsletter Pullman car Ferdinand Magellan, modified to haul the President of the United States in 1942 and in POTUS ever since, is donated to the Florida Development Commission for display at the University of Miami; it later moved […]
Name: Somerset County Traction System, Easton & Amboy RR, and Harter Felsen Quarry Co. Scale: O (1:48) and On21/2 Size: 32 x 40 feet with 10 x 20 foot extension in crawl space Prototype: freelance Locale: north central New Jersey Period: September 1957 Style: walkaround Mainline run: 350 feet (SCTS), 225 feet (E&A), and 35 […]
Name: Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 4 x 12 feet Prototype: Milwaukee Road’s Chestnut Street Line Locale: Milwaukee, Wis. Era: 1947 Style: sectional Mainline run: 24 feet Minimum radius: 18″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the January 2009 issue of Model Railroader. See a PDF version of […]
Rock Island buys GM’s two Aerotrains for suburban service out of Chicago, where they join RI’s own Jet Rocket Talgo train, powered by an Aerotrain-style locomotive. . . . Illinois Central buys eight sleeping cars (four 10-5’s, four 4-4-2’s) from New York Central for City of Miami service. . . . Pullman-Standard’s first 85-foot flatcar […]
As of October 1, 1958, Class I railroads own or lease 27,622 diesel locomotives, 1,532 steam locomotives, and 559 electrics. . . . Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line are mulling a merger. . . . New York Central unveils a system for transporting ballistic missiles in conventional 70-foot baggage cars. . . . […]
New Jersey challenges the constitutionality of the Transportation Act of 1958, under whose provisions the Erie and New York Central seek to discontinue their Hudson River ferry service. . . . Reading Company completes a $500,000 upgrade at its Port Richmond Marine Terminal on the Delaware River in Philadelphia; new ore-unloading machinery nearly doubles the […]
SP announces it is standardizing on silver livery for all passenger equipment; although Armour yellow will be retained for cars assigned to Overland Route trains, SP’s tow-tone gray and bright Daylight colors will fade away. . . . On August 12, the Transportation Act of 1958 is signed into law. Among its provisions are greater […]
